


Darcy's Dumbest Decision

by ANebulaDarkly



Series: Electric Shocks on Aching Bones [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: CA:TWS AU, Captain America: The Winter Soldier AU, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Confused Sam Wilson, Darcy Lewis is doing her best, Darcy is starting to have a problem with bridges, Gen, Language, Natasha Romanov Doesn't Know Everything, Now with more Darcy, She only acts like she does, She said so herself, Steve is doing his best, The Lord of the Rings References, Thor is a Good Bro (Marvel), but I don't believe her, sorry i had to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:40:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29971305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANebulaDarkly/pseuds/ANebulaDarkly
Summary: Post Evil Elf Invasion, Darcy decided it was time to make her degree in Political Science useful by calling in a favor with Thor's Avenger buddy Clint and going to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.She's not sure yet if she's going to live long enough for anotherdumberdecision to top it.Teen for Language
Series: Electric Shocks on Aching Bones [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106303
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	Darcy's Dumbest Decision

**_Monday, April 7th, 2014_ **

Standing slowly, Darcy had time to consider that she had done a lot of dumb shit in her day as she turned toward what might actually be her death.

There were quite a few moments that ranked as highest on her list, all having held first place at one point or another until they were replaced with an even dumber decision. "Skiing" across the icy roads while in her snow boots and holding onto a rope tied to the back of a pick up? Survived. Taking an internship with an astrophysicist during which she tasered a god and saved an entire pet shop? All in a day's work. Deciding that maybe she could use her S.H.I.E.L.D. contacts aka Thor’s Avenger buddy Clint to flex her way into an entry level internship working for S.H.I.E.L.D. after another alien encounter with her astrophysicist boss in England so she could actually try to do something useful in her degree in Political Science that she’d earned rather than mooch off Jane forever? Might have been her worst. It was what had led her current top worst decision: delivering a stack of folders for The Alexander Pierce to review last week. Or it had been the worst decision until this moment now.

Darcy slowly raised her hands to eye level as she stepped away from the cover of the overturned car. The trio she was leaving behind were boring holes into the back of her head. She really hoped that a bullet actually leaving a hole in her head would not be their last memory of her.

**_Tuesday, April 1, 2014_ **

Being an intern at S.H.I.E.L.D. was nothing like being Jane’s intern. There were still coffee runs but for far more people, most of whom didn’t even thank her. There were still reports to type up based on illegible handwriting that were in actual notebooks rather than napkins and receipts. And of course being chosen to be a glorified pack mule and take that long trip to Pierce’s office.

Fuck the required heels. Fuck the skirt that limited her mobility that she had thought would be cute to wear today. Fuck the stack of files she could barely see over, but most of all fuck the elevator that shut in her face. She was already eating into what was supposed to be her lunch hour, and she couldn’t go eat until this was done. Waiting for the next elevator was another 10 minutes of just standing still while holding the stack of files that she couldn’t even set on the ground for fear of ripping said mobility limiting skirt. What had S.H.I.E.L.D. been thinking with only one elevator in each corner? Was it some sort of stupid security thing? Afraid to have doors shut in her face once again after another trek to another elevator, she waited until the doors finally, finally slid open and took her place in the back of an empty elevator. Level after level, more people joined the car until it was packed by level 8. The car had emptied once more by the time she reached top level.

Ignoring the sweat beading on her brow and threatening to drip into her eyes, Darcy poured out of the elevator and sighed in relief at the sight of Pierce’s assistant’s desk. The stern looking woman with her dark hair in a tight bun was on the phone, but nonetheless she looked up at Darcy’s approach. She took one glance at the top file, covered the mouth of the phone, and whispered.

“He’s out right now. Can you carry those in for me?”

The woman nodded at the security door just to the side of her desk. Darcy gulped at the thought of even ten more feet with this stack, but she had learned long ago that if you wanted to get anywhere, being kind to the assistant is the easiest way to get there. So she dug down into her last reserves of strength and nodded. 

“Thanks. First door on your left,” the assistant whispered before buzzing Darcy into the secured floor. 

Despite a small struggle with the handle, Darcy slipped into the cramped dark hall, walked down the extra ten feet, and opened the first door on the left. The three inch thick metal door clicked shut behind her. She would have spent a moment gawking in awe at the view out the full wall window behind the desk or marveling at how she was standing in the Secretary of Internal Security’s office, a man she’d only ever read about in school, if she weren’t currently over-encumbered. Darcy debated leaving the stack on the meeting table right inside the door but decided that it would be rude to make the Secretary of Internal Security move his own files. She could and did make it across the room to his desk. With a final heave, she released the stack onto the inbox side of the Secretary’s desk. The disturbance sent an accordion style binder to the floor behind Pierce’s desk, papers scattering across the sunlit floor.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she cursed as she raced around the other side to pick up the scattered documents.

Mindful not to tear her skirt, Darcy knelt down and began to frantically collect things. Stacking the few manilla folders, the gray book with a red star on it, and… her hand paused, hovering over the pictures that had fallen out of the paper clip that had bound them together.

One, she recognized instantly thanks to the bright morning light. It was a black and white photo that had been used time and again in every history book she’d ever read when her classes covered World War II. It was hard to _not_ know the face of Captain America’s former bestie, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, when her field had been in Political Science. And the fact that after the convergence, Thor confirmed that the Captain America in the Battle of New York _was_ in fact _the_ Steve Rogers. She’d spent the weekend after _that_ revelation pouring over one of her old World War II books. She’d seen Sargent Barnes’s face a few times while brushing up on Steve’s history in case she ever met Captain America. It could happen. She’d already met two Avengers now, one third of their whole team. Seeing the other four could totally happen.

She easily swept that black and white photo back into the pile, but the other photo was in color and … there was no way Sargent Barnes could have a color photo of him with long hair, right? Her eyes darted to his arm. The machine he was strapped to. Her gut began to twist. She gently lifted one manilla folder and confirmed that she was not in fact supposed to see this file because an ‘Asset Mission Report’ dated a year ago had the signature of one Alexander Pierce. 

Fuck.

Darcy slid the pile back into the accordion binder. Or at least that’s what it would look like to the cameras she was sure were looking at her. She could only hope they couldn’t see how much _she_ had seen. Standing slowly, Darcy set the binder back into place as if she had never been there. If Pierce was in a meeting, she had maybe another half hour tops before he came back and might notice anything amiss. She walked out the office, waved to the still on the phone assistant that the job was done, and made her way back down to her floor. 

**_Monday, April 7th, 2014_ **

Her sneakers barely made a sound as she walked down the now empty bridge. Well, empty save the trio behind her, the group of H.Y.D.R.A. agents parking their vans to create a barrier in the distance, and of course the man who had attacked their car fast approaching her. His face was masked, muzzled like a beast. The vest looked more like a straight jacket. Everything about his uniform screamed restraint. His metal arm glinted in the sun, and Darcy couldn’t help but feel the way she’d felt years ago in Puente Antiguo as she’d rushed to the pet shop.

**_Tuesday, April 1, 2014_ **

Darcy had returned to her desk to collect her bag before popping over to her boss to tell him she was feeling ill. Feigning sickness wasn’t difficult with her newfound knowledge swimming in her brain. He took one look at her face, leaned away in fear she might throw up on him, and told her not to return to work until she was feeling well again. Cover set, Darcy walked out of the Triskelion, got into her car, and pulled a phone from her bag that she was told only to ever use in a situation like this. She dialed the only number programmed into the phone. Three rings later the phone was answered but the only sound was breathing, as she expected.

"Havo dad, Legolas," she said.

The phone call ended. Immediately there was a text with coordinates. Reaching into her bag once more, Darcy pulled out the old physical maps that Jane had always preferred and plotted out her course. Knowing one third of the Avengers meant she at least knew someone who might know what to do now. Turning the engine, Darcy left the Triskelion for what she hoped would be the last time, praying to Thor she would make it to her destination before nightfall. As if she hadn’t had enough April Fools Day jokes to go around, she arrived at her destination to find out her favorite archer lived out on a farm in the middle of nowhere. She hid her car in the barn as instructed, and Clint set her up for the night before going to contact Natasha. 

Darcy would have been thrilled at the prospect of finally knowing half the Avengers if she hadn’t been so intent on immediately knowing the full details of those files. She reached for her bag the moment her bedroom door shut. Focusing like Thor had taught her, Darcy put her hand inside her bag and opened her tiny pocket dimension. She didn’t need the bag, but the bag was a fantastic cover in case anyone walked in on her pulling objects from thin air.

Jane had pouted when Thor declared with pride that Darcy had a natural talent for it but quickly went into Full Science Mode when Darcy reminded her that while she had to be still and focused to do it, Jane could run around and take readings. It had been a fun two weeks during Christmas between the three of them before….Darcy shook her head and focused. 

From her pocket dimension, Darcy pulled out the files she had stored there, the ones that she was hoping Pierce wasn’t missing yet. She looked over the pile before her and reached for the gray book with the red star. 

She did not sleep that night.

Sometime after the sun broke over the horizon, she slapped a thick folder on the dining room table. Natasha and Clint looked it over while she ate the breakfast laid out for her. She did not share the contents of the gray book, still uncertain of who to trust. If she died, at least she would die knowing that one man might be able to find freedom because that book would be lost to her pocket dimension. After everything he'd been through, he deserved to be free. Later that day, Clint would take his family into hiding while Natasha, _the_ Black Widow _,_ would stash Darcy in a safe house in D.C. before going back to S.H.I.E.L.D. to collect more information. For now, Darcy drank what might be her last cup of coffee as she tried to ease her anger and her need to _do_ something to save the Asset.

**_Monday, April 7th, 2014_ **

For nearly a week, Darcy believed that stealing documents from Alexander Pierce and going to the only S.H.I.E.L.D. contact she trusted because she _knew_ that face in the picture would forever hold the title of Darcy’s Dumbest Decision until her dying day. 

Which just might be today.

Car horns blared below the bridge as people were racing away from what was clearly going to be another Big Fight. Everyone had seen what had happened in New York, and they had learned that running was the only safe choice. She hoped her actions now would let those civilians get away unscathed.

She had spent a week memorizing the files of the man now stalking towards her. He reached back and pulled a gun that had been holstered to his back. She held her breath, but he held the gun low, pointed away from her. 

She could have collapsed in relief that she did not register as a threat to the Winter Soldier.

**_Monday, April 7th, 2014 -- Five minutes ago_ **

The week that followed her finding that book had been hell in a hand basket, culminating in having the boogiemen of legend her professor had told her about landing on the roof of the car. She was already screaming the words she'd practiced all week at the top of her lungs the moment his hand broke through the glass and grabbed her.

“непринужденно солдат!”*

Natasha held her gun pointed at the hand holding Darcy’s shirt until the metal released her and receded once more out the window. The moment he let go, Natasha leaned forward and jerked the wheel. The man on top of the vehicle went flying while those inside went spinning like a tea cup ride before the car rode up the median and went into a roll. When the car finally came to a stop, Steve busted out the windshield with his own shield and helped them all out. Natasha checked to see how far back they had left the Soldier and cursed as she spotted more S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles rolling up behind him.

“What do we do now, Cap?” Sam asked.

Steve turned to Natasha. While they gave each other a look, a truly dumb idea filled Darcy’s brain. Knowing that now that she had had the idea there was no way she wouldn’t do it, Darcy reached into her pocket dimension and began grabbing a few of the things she had stashed there while she was still at Clint’s. 

"I need you to cover me," Darcy said, crawling toward the end of the car to take a peek.

Sam grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"That’s not a good idea.” 

"With this many civilians? This is the only idea.” 

She handed a grenade to Steve, trusting his super soldier aim to make the mark even at this distance. Steve blinked at what she'd handed him.

“Get ready to throw this at the goons behind him."

She then pulled out a firearm for each of them from her crossbody bag. Natasha gave her a small head tilt. 

"We'll take one of their vehicles once I take him down," Darcy explained.

"Take him down?" Sam muttered to himself, clearly doing the math between the assassin and the intern and things definitely not adding up.

"You don’t have any training," Natasha stated. 

"Nope."

“I'll go instead.”

“Also nope.”

"Then what are you going to do?" a deeply concerned Steve asked. 

"Say the magic words."

And with that Darcy stood up from the cover of the car, turned, and walked with her hands open and at eye level toward the assassin approaching from the other side of the bridge.

**_Monday, April 7th, 2014 -- Present_ **

They were within ten feet of each other. It took all her will to remain steady and not bolt, even though she was deeply aware there was nowhere for her to run to. He could easily end her with his firearm, but she was unarmed. If nothing else, the reports she’d been reading all week had taught her one thing -- the Asset followed the letter of his instructions and never killed anyone he didn't need to, especially those who were unarmed and posed no threat. It was the one bit of information in his files that seemed to have perturbed his handlers to no end. It had given her confidence that underneath their conditioning, there was still someone _there_ to save. She was banking not only on the chance her name might have been forgotten in the orders given to the Winter Soldier but also that the man beneath the years of brainwashing would in fact let her go unharmed if he had not been specifically commanded to stop her as long as she posed no threat. 

Six feet remained between her and the world’s deadliest assassin now, and the agents behind him were beginning to get shifty at her approach.

“You’re S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, right? I’m Provisional Agent Darcy Lewis! I’ve been held prisoner by Captain America for a week now!”

She hoped that directly addressing them might buy her that last minute she needed to get close enough while they considered that she might be one of theirs or if they needed to bring her in for questioning. Their confusion would be her upper hand. 

The Soldier shifted slightly to the side of her with no direct orders to take her down like she hoped, and then they were side by side. She leaned toward him and whispered. 

"иди спать, солдат."**

The gun tumbled out of his hand as the Winter Soldier collapsed like a sack of potatoes. Wrapping her arms around him, she fell with him as she tried to keep his head from smacking against the tar.

"Now!" she screamed. 

The grenade exploded as Captain America, the Black Widow, and the tag along raced over to greet her, collect weapons from the Soldier still half collapsed on top of her, and forge on to take out the rest of the goons before they could recover. The Widow spared her a single comment. 

"You know."

Darcy only nodded.

It was enough for the Black Widow. Natasha quickly joined the boys in taking down the barricade, and Darcy wondered for the millionth time in her life if maybe this would finally be her Dumbest Decision. 

She did a quick mental tally. Thor. Cap. Widow. Hawkeye. She had only met two thirds of the Avengers. With two still to go, there was no way she was done with dumb decisions. She still had time to make another even dumber decision that would top this.

The fight behind her was quieting down, her new friends finishing up. She considered taking off the Soldier's mask now. She wasn’t sure how Steve would deal with the emotional fallout, but it would be better to be someplace safe for that. For now, she would let his mask remain. There was still the matter of the helicarriers to deal with, but she already had half a plan for that. For now, she settled for cradling the victim until Steve and co returned with a pilfered vehicle. 

She wouldn't have thrown herself into this with such abandon if she hadn't been deeply aware at the start that the Soldier was a victim of H.Y.D.R.A. in need of someone to help him escape. It felt different from having saved Baker from the Destroyer, but still she was proud that she was able to actually succeed in her goal even if it had taken her all week.

Shifting to sit upright, she brushed his greasy, unkempt locks from his face. When was the last time they had let him have a shower? In that small moment with the full horror of their actions achingly real in her arms, she felt the overwhelming urge to burn every H.Y.D.R.A. operative alive if for no other reason than their treatment of this one man. She read her mythology. Fire was the only suitable solution for that kind of monster. She was better with a taser for sure, but for the nearly 70 years of abuse this man had suffered, she was willing to learn a thing or two of fire. 

He might be prone, but she wasn't entirely sure he was unconscious, so she considered it better late than never to introduce herself, even if all of the emotions she’d been holding in check for the past week were finally leaking through.

"My name's Darcy. It’s gonna be okay. I’m not going to let H.Y.D.R.A. hurt you anymore. We're going to go somewhere safe, and it’s going to be okay. Do you hear me, Bucky? You're safe now, and it’s going to be okay."

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> *At ease, soldier
> 
> **Go to sleep, soldier
> 
> Happy Birthday Bucky!
> 
> Finally got around to posting this today to celebrate!
> 
> You don't know the horror that was trying to figure out how many floors there were in the Triskelion (by my estimates, it's 60) and how long the elevator ride would be. Which was somehow more difficult than just the 'ah, yes, if the movie release date is this date, then this is what day the Bridge incident happened'.
> 
> This Darcy now has had two incidents, one in a place called the Old Bridge and now on an actual bridge. It's becoming a problem.
> 
> And I *may* have figured out an entire timeline for Darcy in CA:TWS. The outline is sitting in a folder, so I may one day come back to this and make a nice long chaptered fic.
> 
> The title is because I have an alliteration problem, and no one can stop me.


End file.
